Critical Debate and Representative Democracy
A Viewpoint on the US Bill of Rights, President Andrew Johnson's policy on reconstruction, the Alger Hiss Espionage Case, and George W. Bush's "War on Terror"

Norman Coles has taught at a number of universities including Dublin, Metropolitan (London), SUNY and Cornell. He specializes in Political Philosophy, with a particular interest in the Philosophy of Aquinas, Metaphysics (for which he has drafted new degree courses), and the Philosophy of Iris Murdoch. He is the author of Ashton's Case for James II and Human Nature and Human Values.

Critical political debate requires respect for principles
of logic, rationality and reasonableness, as well as shared conceptions
of evidence and relevance in the political arena. The author presents
case studies in order to demonstrate the inherent dangers of not
applying principles of reasoning to the interpretation of political
events. Relevance and the adequacy of evidence are too often overlooked
in favour of rhetoric and moral platitude, sometimes leading to
deceit and always to ambiguity, to the detriment of democratic society.
He investigates the US Bill of Rights in the context of natural
justice and the ‘right’ of citizens to hold arms; President
Andrew Johnson’s policies towards the ‘Secessionist’
states with respect to his understanding of the causes of the civil
war and the human worth of the emancipated slaves; Whittaker
Chambers’ accusation against Alger Hiss, a former high-ranking
State Department employee, and the Communist sympathies and connections
this event brought in its wake; and the confused President
George W. Bush “war on terror” political discourse,
and its implications for Executive power, especially for the conduct
of the office of Vice-President.

All of us involved as we are in
the polity have a duty to determine the truth of major, albeit confusing,
political events. The author calls this a “War by Night”
to indicate how hard it is to interpret these events with minimal
accuracy when those who initiate political action may conceal, distort
or deny. This book is written in the tradition of applied philosophy:
it provides clear arguments of modern political relevance in order
to throw light on major political events and promote critical debate
in the political arena.

Hardback ISBN:

978-1-84519-339-3

Hardback Price:

£19.95 / $39.95

Release Date:

May/June 2009

Page Extent / Format:

96 pp. / 229 x 152 mm

Illustrated:

No

Foreword by Dr P. M. S. Hacker
Preface
Acknowledgements

1 The US Bill of Rights
2 President Andrew Johnson
3 Whittaker Chambers
4 Alger Hiss
5 President George W. Bush
6 The 'War on Terror'

Appendix 1 Narratives
Appendix 2 Constitution of the United States of America
Appendix 3 The Bill of Rights

Bibliography
Index

Norman
Coles’ distinctive perspective on four significant episodes
in American history suggest, inter alia, the light that can be cast
on domestic and international politics by philosophy, particularly
by that closer attention to the use of words and to the logic of
an argument that a training in philosophy can instil.
... At the same time, as he makes clear
in his study of President Andrew Johnson, political failures and
disastrous policies themselves are to be attributed, not to philosophical
mistakes, but to lack of imagination and empathy, and to the corrupting
power of human prejudice.
Vincent Denard, formerly lecturer
in Philosophy, Trinity College, Dublin

In an era dominated by mass
media, and in a political milieu determined by public relations
men, critical political debate has declined. As a consequence .
the forms of representative democratic politics and liberal political
societies which obtain in Britain, Europe, and the USA are under
severe pressure. It is salutary to see how the instruments of logic
and the methods of philosophical analysis can be brought to bear
on political discourse and illuminate different ways in which political
societies have been hoodwinked by rhetoric, intellectual and moral
dishonesty, and plain conceptual error or confusion. To shed light
on the dark forces that are a perennial internal threat to liberal
democratic society is the purpose of Norman Coles' lucid new book.
Dr P. M. S. Hacker, Fellow of St John's College, Oxford

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